Rockville Centre’s Peter Bralower Honored as Personality of the Month in Eastern New York

By Randy Vogt, Director of Public Relations, Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association

May 11, 2017-Things are certainly looking up for Rockville Centre soccer icon Peter Bralower. He celebrates his birthday on May 31, his Sacred Heart Academy girls varsity team are the defending Catholic high school state champions and he is being honored by the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) as our Personality of the Month for May.

Peter began playing soccer at age 12 while in junior high school and he was part of the first stage of the youth soccer boom, during the 1960’s. While still in high school, he started coaching in the Rockville Centre Soccer Club’s initial intramural program in 1972.

During the 45 years he has served as a coach, Peter’s most successful team was the Rockville Centre Royals girls team, one of the best teams ever to come out of the Long Island Junior Soccer League (LIJSL). The Royals accomplished a super royal flush by winning the championship of summer programs of diverse Long Island women’s leagues for eight years from 2008 to 2015. The Rockville Centre Royals men’s team won three Long Island Soccer Football League (LISFL) summer titles, retiring the Paul Voss Cup in the process.

Peter became girls varsity coach of Sacred Heart Academy in 2008 and won his first state championship last year by mentoring a very young team with seven sophomores starting on the Spartans. He is now also the girls varsity lacrosse coach at Sacred Heart.

Additionally, Peter volunteered as President of the Rockville Centre Soccer Club from 1989 to ’99. During his decade in charge, he introduced a travel team mentor program, small-sided soccer for the intramural program, the Rockville Centre Travel Team Summer Camp, Kids Teaching Kids where former and current players instruct at summer camp plus the Annual Kick-Off Game for both the South Side High School boys and girls under the lights.

So with all this success, you can understand why Peter was inducted into the LIJSL Hall of Fame in 2000, Peter Bralower Field was dedicated in Rockville Centre in 2012 and he was honored as Newsday Co-Coach of the Year in 2016. And this is all in addition to being a Special Education and History Teacher at Forest Hills High School in Queens.

“I would like to add that I’m also very proud of having coached in the Select Programs of the Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League as well as both the boys and girls select in the LIJSL,” Peter stated.

With over 100,000 youth soccer players––both boys and girls––and more than 25,000 volunteers, the non-profit Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association (ENYYSA) stretches from Montauk Point, Long Island to the Canadian border. Members are affiliated with 11 leagues throughout the association, which covers the entire state of New York east of Route 81. ENYYSA exists to promote and enhance the game of soccer for children and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 19 years old, and to encourage the healthy development of youth players, coaches, referees and administrators. All levels of soccer are offered––from intramural, travel team and premier players as well as Children With Special Needs. No child who wants to play soccer is turned away. ENYYSA is a proud member of the United States Soccer Federation and United States Youth Soccer Association. For more information, please log on to http://www.enysoccer.com/, which receives nearly 300,000 hits annually from the growing soccer community.